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Monday, September 10, 2012

Labor Day and More DC

Over Labor Day weekend we headed up to Alexandria, VA to visit with Russ' dad who was in town for work. We got to go back into DC and see a little bit more of the town than we did on our last trip.

Library of Congress

Fountain in front of the Library of Congress

Department of Justice... under construction

Ulysses S. Grant Memorial near the Capitol

Waiting for our Capitol tour to start...

The ceiling of the rotunda in the Capitol building... it really is breathtaking.

Inside the Capitol rotunda (which can fit the Statue of Liberty and then 30 feet!)

National Archives which houses the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Bill of Rights... no pictures allowed but it was incredible to see a real piece of history!

Our last stop was the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History which had an incredible collection of meteorites, gemstones and minerals. I've wanted to see this collection since seeing pictures of the museum in grade school. I should've taken more pictures but I was too busy trying to absorb it all!

We could actually touch this amethyst!

And... The Hope Diamond! While interesting to see, I kinda felt... underwhelmed.

And another little slice of history... jewelry that was owned by Napoleon's first wife. Pretty cool!

Great visit! Hopefully next time we're up that way we won't 1) roast our butts off in the late Summer heat and 2) get drenched by a random late afternoon downpour!